The Seeker's Mission
by Alice2485
Summary: A highly trained spy falls in with the avatar's gaang. Her mission? Capture the avatar and bring him to the Firelord. Will she do her duty to the Firelord, or will she do her duty to the world?
1. The Seeker's Mission

I was in a room adorned with only a hand towel on a rack, a water basin, a blood-red fire nation banner, a small, hard cot in a corner, a woolly blanket and, of course, a door. I was facing the door.

My hands were tightly and thoroughly tied to the metal pole behind me, and my feet were chained to a hook on the floor a few feet away. I was kneeling on the cold floor, with my head bent, the perfect picture of defeat.

But he probably knew better. _He_ being prince Zuko. My captor.

My head shot up as he barged into the room, flanked by two of his stoic and sullen crew members, guards. _Here we go again._ I sighed and lowered my head again, keeping with my defeated act.

"So are you ready to tell me yet? Or will you keep playing innocent and docile? We both know it's just an act." I just stayed exactly as I was.

"WHERE IS THE AVATAR?" I flinched. Ok, I was done playing defeated. I raised my head and glared.

"Look, for the umpteenth time, I don't know where he is. I was on my way to look for him when who shows up but Prince Zuko and his band of Merry Men." I glanced at the guards. Their expressions didn't change. As always.

"You are a highly trained Seeker, part of an elite band of child and teen prodigy spies trained thoroughly in nearly every kind of martial arts and weaponry that the world has to offer. You are both a diplomat and an actor, with masterful knowledge of all _four_ kinds of bending-"

"And yet somehow I got captured by you." I mumbled. Oops, I would pay for that. If he even heard me. But Zuko had not yet finished his speech.

"-not to mention if you can bend yourself. You have yet to divulge that knowledge to me. You have been schooled in military tactics and strategies, and even the history and culture of all _four_ nations, including air. You have been trained since infancy in all this, and yet you expect me to believe that you don't know where the Avatar is." Boy, this guy had a lot of wind. At least I knew now the point of that spiel.

"Gee, I'll try to take time out of my busy schedule to feel flattered. But you really don't think that they would have us spread out so much _to look for the Avatar_ if we knew where he was, do you?" I shifted where I sat. My legs were cold and numb from kneeling for so long.

"You've been schooled in diversionary tactics as well as I have, _Lady_ Cadence. So where were you going? Don't make me force it out of you. It might hurt." Zuko was starting to get angry and frustrated. Not a good combination in this particular hothead.

"You know full well that I was going south when you overcame my ship. Figure it out yourself." Zuko advanced toward me slowly and said in a creepily low voice: "I'll give you one last chance. Where is the Avatar?"

"My guess is as good as yours, and I'm not going to figure it out sitting here, am I? I didn't know the first dozen times, and I still don't. Hurting me isn't going to change that. Nor is asking me again and again and again…" That's when he sent a roundhouse kick aimed at my head. I ducked as well as I could in my bound state and managed to miss most of it, his foot only just catching my cheek and effectively slamming my head back into the pole I was tethered to.

"_I don't know!" _I burst out. My head was throbbing and there was blood trickling down my cheek. Zuko raised his hand to slap me. Lucky for me, that's when Zuko's uncle Iroh walked in.

"I heard shouting. Prince Zuko, what's… _Zuko! She has already told you many times that she doesn't know where the Avatar is!"_

"But Uncle, she's lying!" Zuko whirled around to face his uncle.

"No, Prince Zuko, she's telling the truth!" Iroh retorted.

"No kidding, hothead." I grumbled. To say I was out-of-sorts because of my new injury would be an understatement. Zuko just glared at me and stormed out, followed by his guards. Iroh just sighed and dipped the hand towel into the water basin. He knelt down and started wiping the blood off my cheek.

"My nephew means well…" _I'm sure. "_…but he's just confused right now. He wants to restore his honour and return to his father. I am sorry for the pain he has caused you these past few days. I am sure he will let you go soon." I was silent.

Once he had finished tending to my injuries and had left, I made sure my one, four-inch throwing knife was still strapped to my arm under my long sleeve. _How on earth haven't they noticed it?_ Oh well. I was waiting for when we landed to make my epic and memorable breakout. There was no point breaking out when I had nowhere to go. Zuko had inferenced that since I had been heading south when he caught me, I was going to the Southern Water Tribe. He was right, of course, but I wasn't about to tell him that. It had been my mission to infiltrate the tribe and become one of them. I was to live with them for roughly a year, or until I found the Avatar, unless an extreme emergency came up.

After a few minutes, a guard came in to give me a plate of soggy food, and he stood by while I ate. Two more guards stood by the door. _Wow, I'm important enough to get 3 guards all to myself. I'll try not get a swelled head, _I thought sarcastically. The guard that had given me my food re-tied/chained me to the cot in the corner. I co-operated. He took my plate and left. He also locked the door.

_He wouldn't have been able to capture me if it hadn't been for some idiot that lost hold of their sword during the skirmish. I'm just lucky I got hit by the hilt. I'm not so lucky that I got knocked unconscious and wound up here. I wonder how my ship and crew are… Anyways, I should probably sleep. We should be arriving at the Southern Water Tribe soon…_

So I slept.


	2. Introductions are in Order

***Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar. Although I would like to, I do not.**

**Please review. I like reviews. Especially as this is my first ever fanfic. So please review.**

In the few weeks that followed, Prince Zuko had taken to coming into my room. He would mostly just sit in silence on the corner of my cot while I was sitting, leaning against the metal pole in the centre of my room, for I was no longer chained. Occasionally he would speak. He would tell me about fragments of memories from his childhood. About his mother, before she left. About his sister, before she became the way she is now. About his cousin Lu Ten, before he died. About his uncle Iroh, before he went off to Ba Sing Se. But never about his father. Of his father, the Prince never spoke. I sat in silence while he spoke, never interrupting. I guess that made me a good listener. So Zuko kept coming back. I began to understand more about his childhood, the way he was raised, the reason he is the way he is. But I still sat in silence.

**O~O~O **

I woke with a jerk. The ship had stopped moving. I sat up with interest. _We must be there. I'm surprised he actually found it._ I sat listening for a few minutes into the relative silence. Then I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

**O~O~O**

I heard the metal door of the ship being opened, I heard the muffled sounds of activity on the land we had drawn up to, and I heard the sounds of activity on the deck. From what I had gathered from the conversation I heard, Prince Zuko had captured the avatar. _Interesting_. I heard the hotheadgive the order to put the Avatar in a holding cell, and to put his staff in the Prince's own quarters.

**O~O~O**

Aang tried door after door after door, but none contained his staff. He occasionally encountered guards, but he dealt with them by either knocking them out, or just by quickly bypassing them. Finally, he opened a door to behold, in the centre of his field of view, his staff.

"My staff!" He cried out. He ran over to get it, but stopped at the sound of the door clanging shut behind him. He slowly turned around to see…

**O~O~O**

"So. You're the Avatar." I was leaning against the door frame with my arms folded nonchalantly.

"Who are you? Are you a guard?" The kid questioned warily, settling into a generic, all-purpose Air bending fighting stance.

"Relax. Prince Temper kept me prisoner here too. Broke out when I heard the Avatar was here too. I figured maybe we could help each other." I pulled a length of chain I had picked up on my escape out of my sleeve to verify my account.

"Oh. Well, I guess you're my best bet for getting out of here, so…" He got out of his ready position and stuck out his hand, grinning. "I'm Aang."

I shook it. "I'm Cadence. My friends call me Cade. Well… they would if I had any. But the Highness will probably realize that I stole your staff from his quarters soon, so… best get a move on. Lead the way, buddy." A smile never once graced my face.

He raced down the hallway and out onto the deck, with me close on his heels. Brilliant sunshine met our arrival, along with bitterly cold Southern wind. I hadn't tasted either in days, if not weeks. I hadn't been allowed on deck too often.

The sound of alarm had been raised long ago. Many guards were assembled on deck, facing us. As was Prince Zuko. He commenced the charming meeting with: "I guess I underestimated you, Avatar. It won't happen again. And you…" He turned to me.

"Yeah… I'm with him now." I pointed to Aang. "As…_hospitable…_ as you've been, being a prisoner isn't as much fun as you may think. So… shall we get to it then?" Aang and I got into our ready positions, him an airbending one, and me a general martial arts one. Zuko started the _heated_ exchange with a fire blast sent at Aang while I got at it with his crew.

Now don't get me wrong. I was a pretty amazing martial artist. But when you're alone up against 10 fully grown, fully trained _men_ with your only weapons those you can filch off the unconscious people you've knocked out, it's not exactly a walk in the park.

Just then, a large beast of some sort growled in the distance. Aang joyfully shouted, "Appa!" while I kept trying to avoid being barbequed. I glanced up to see a supposedly long-extinct sky bison flying towards us. I paid for my lapse in concentration as I was knocked flat on my back. One of the men took advantage of my situation and leased a huge fireball right at my head. I rolled out of the way, only to be body slammed by a 180 some-odd pound man. I felt the air rush out of me as I jabbed two fingers into a nerve point on his neck. He went limp. I shoved him off of me while simultaneously taking his sword and dagger. That was much easier to fight with than my bare hands. I leapt up off the deck, and felt where my ribs had bruised. I simply ignored the pain.

From what I caught out of the corner of my eye, Aang seemed to be doing pretty ok. His bison, apparently named Appa, was getting closer by the minute. I continued to block and attack, but there was always someone else to attack me, someone else to ward off my attacks. With over two weeks of no training or even exercising, I was pretty unfit. I was already gasping for breath, and I was getting slower and sloppier. Appa was now close enough to see that there were two passengers on him, both clad in the blue of the Southern Water Tribe.

Aang flipped open his staff, which apparently doubled as a glider, and prepared to sail off to meet Appa, having knocked the Prince down temporarily. He hesitated, though, and sent a worried glance at me.

I was confused as to what I should do; whether I should go with him on the back of his glider, severely reducing our chances of escape, or if I should stay, the martyr for the cause, and let him see me get re-captured. In a millisecond, I weighed the odds, and decided to go with the second. Rather let him get away (Prince Zuko could always track and find him again) and see me stay for him, thereby gaining his trust.

"_Go!_" I yelled.

Still he hesitated. Prince Zuko was starting to get up.

"_GO!"_ With one last worried glance at me, Aang took off toward the bison. I dropped "my" sword and dagger and held up my hands in defeat.

They weren't buying it. One guy kicked me behind my knees, effectively bringing me down to a kneeling position while another held my arms together, high above my back in a rather painful position. I saw his Highness shooting fireballs at the Avatar, as the Avatar and the other two looked back at me with worry evident on their faces.

O~O~O

"We _have_ to go back for her."

"No, Aang, we don't even know her. It could all be a trap."

"Sokka's right, Aang. We have to get out of here."

"But Katara…"

Aang looked back to see the mysterious girl lower her head in defeat. One man kicked her in the ribs for good measure, and she crumpled down as far as she could while being held up, apparently painfully, by her arms.

"Ouch, that one looked like it hit something important." Katara grimaced in sympathy as she spoke.

"No, we are _not_ going back. It's too dangerous."

So they flew on.


	3. Crescent Island

**There was something I used to do before exams. What was it again? Oh yeah, I used to write…**

**So finally here. I own nothing but my ideas, my words and my mind. Among other things. But those other things are currently irrelevant. So here it is. **

**O~O~O**

I stood in the middle of a cell. I had been moved from my other room into this one, which was about half the size and much colder. And less comfortable, if that was possible. I was standing in the middle of the room with my hands over my head in metal shackles, chained to the ceiling. There were metal shackles around my ankles, too. The chains around my hands weren't long enough for me to sit. So for the past two days, I had spent my time either standing, or hanging limply by my shackled wrists, which was quite painful. My wrists were going to scar if I didn't get them looked at. _Not like there's any chance of that happening_, I thought.

I saw a shiny metal helmet at the barred window in my door, and I heard someone fiddling with keys in the lock. _Oh goody, the food man. I wonder if he brought me anything edible this time. Or maybe it's the bathroom man. I like those men._

But I had no such luck. Of course, it was the prince. He glared at me a moment upon entering, and slammed the door behind him. He was simmering with barely supressed anger.

"Haven't seen you in a while. Wow, must be about two days now. When was it… oh yeah, that was around the last time I actually slept…"

He slapped me.

I shut up.

There was silence as I waited for him to tell me what he wanted. Or why he was mad. I soon got my answer.

"We lost the Avatar's trail." He turned his back to me and faced the wall. "I finally had him. I could go home. My honour…" I was at a loss as to what he expected me to do about it. If it was pity he wanted, he wasn't gettin' nuttin'.

"You know what? I'd be much more sympathetic and open to listening if I was sitting down." At this point in my "exile to the cell," my legs wouldn't even hold me up properly anymore. At the best of times, I had roughly half of my weight on my arms.

He turned around with a deep glare on his face. He took two steps closer- when one would have had him quite close enough, thank you very much-and he grabbed my forearms, and put a subtle yet still noticeable downward pressure on them.

I was proud that I didn't even flinch, even though it felt like he was slowly digging a dagger into each of my wrists.

"You…" He paused for emphasis. "…will _not_ talk back to me. You have obviously not yet realized that…" I never got to find out what I didn't realize, because Prince Zuko stopped. He had felt something wet trickle onto his hands. My blood from the manacles. He looked at me in surprise, I assumed because I had not complained, or begged for mercy, or cried out in pain, or even winced. My expression was perfectly stoic.

He stepped back so he wasn't quite so _in my face _and touched the shackles directly. He surprised me by pulling the manacles themselves down, somewhat alleviating the pressure on my wrists. I looked up and followed his gaze above my head to my wrists. They looked pretty bad, with angry red welts or blood where the skin wasn't torn off because of the constant chaffing. His eyes were wide with shock.

He let go of them and walked out of the room without another word. The door fell shut with a clang, and I heard him speak in quiet undertones with the two guards stationed outside of my door. I heard his footsteps retreat down the hall. The next thing I knew, I had a private session with the ship's healer.

He walked into my room with his black bag full of medical things. I had also noticed that I now, for the moment, had double the usual number of guards outside my door.

The doctor man set his bag down in the corner and moved to unlock my shackles with some keys he had procured from his sleeve. He paused, though, and said: "Please don't do anything rash or violent. I'm here to try and help." I simply blinked at him, and he evidently took that as a yes. He unlocked my cuffs, and I crumpled to the floor, no longer able to support myself after standing for so long. I sat leaning against the wall and inspected my wrists. The doctor crouched beside me.

"Yes, yes, now let me see. He gently but firmly grabbed my hands, careful to stay well away from my wrists, and held them out so he could see. "Hmm… this needs work." He moved to the door and instructed someone to bring him a water basin, some clean rags, and some other things which meant nothing to me.

A servant showed up shortly, with the doctor's requested items, and_… Prince Zuko…_ in tow. I honestly hadn't expected him to show up.

He stood silently in the corner and watched, never moving or speaking. I co-operated with the doctor as he cleaned my wounds, put some kind of medicine or poultice on them, and wrapped them in bandages. The healer gathered his things, told me he'd be back the next day to check on my wrists, and bowed to the prince before he left. Said prince simply nodded in response, while I busily ignored him by trying to massage some feeling into my numb legs. There was an awkward silence in the room.

"I… I just… sorry. I didn't know the cuffs would be so… painful. I just wanted to be sure you wouldn't be able to escape again." Prince Zuko looked embarrassed and awkward. He was obviously not used to making apologies.

"I've been through worse." I responded shortly.

"…Oh. Well… I just wanted to say that…" He scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. " …you can move back to your old room now. With increased security. If you want."

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Great. When?"

"Um… Now? If that's ok." He still looked uncomfortable.

"Fine."

"…Ok. Since it's probably not a good idea to chain you again, just don't try anything, because we're in the middle of the ocean. Unless you're thinking of mutiny and singlehandedly captaining the ship to wherever your destination is now. Which isn't a good idea."

"Oh, no, don't mind me. I'm just going wherever the tide takes me right now." I cocked an eyebrow at my pun, since I wasn't really the smiling type. Anymore.

I stood up shakily, lost my balance, and leaned against the wall to get my balance. The prince stayed exactly where he was, thankfully. I shoved myself off the wall, and with a great amount of willpower, stayed standing tall and proud.

"Let's go, Fire Boy." He glared at the use of that name, but didn't say anything. He led me to my old room with my entourage of guards to make sure I didn't do anything stupid. We reached my room after not too long, and I collapsed onto my bed and fell asleep immediately.

And that was that.

**O~O~O**

I was no longer chained while I was in my room. I was re-chained every time we were anywhere near land, though (the prince was still chasing the Avatar). The door was always locked and guarded, with just one guard when we were at sea, and three when in close proximity to land. Sure, I didn't get much "alone time," but as far as prisoner life goes, it wasn't so bad.

It took a couple of weeks before I was allowed on deck again, albeit under heavy supervision. I wasn't allowed my weapons back yet, and none of my guards would spar with me, so I mostly just went through my forms, and I did my strength and flexibility exercises in my room. Until one day, the prince was training when arrived.

I stopped as soon as I saw him. He was duelling two of his crew at once, while being coached by General Iroh. Prince Zuko beat the crew fairly quickly. I went over to the railing of the ship and leaned against it, waiting for the prince to notice me. He didn't.

"Remember your basics, Prince Zuko." Iroh coached. Prince Zuko wearily got into his starting position and began the next spar with the crew members. As the prince turned to face his opponent nearest to me, I automatically took a few paces to the side so as to remain undetected. An idea occurred to me.

Making sure to stay out of his line of vision, I nonchalantly strolled up behind him, looking for all the world like I was taking a walk through the park. Pretty much everyone else noticed me, although I made sure the prince never did. Just as he stood still in his fire bending practice to catch his breath and assess the tiredness of his opponents, I took a few steps so I was close enough behind him to feel the heat radiating from him. Instead of yelling, I simply said quietly, "Boo."

He yelled, jumped a foot into the air, whirled around and sent a fire blast at me which I easily ducked. Not smiling, I raised both my eyebrows at his reaction as the rest of the men on deck burst out into laughter. The prince was fuming.

"Do _not_ interrupt my training session."

"A true warrior should be prepared for anything," I replied quietly. He growled, and daggers of fire burst from his clenched fists.

"_I'll_ show _you_ a true warrior," he growled again.

"If that's alright with your uncle." I glanced at Iroh, who nodded with a highly amused expression on his face. "Well, as I fight with martial arts rather than bending, don't I get a weapon?"

Zuko took a deep breath, and his fire disappeared. Visually calming himself, he said, "What weapon do you fight with?"

I decided to put him in his place. "Tell you what. You pick my weapon, and if I win, I get my bag and stuff back."

"And if I win?" He eyed me warily.

"I'll give you any information about the avatar that you want." His eyes brightened at the prospect, and apparently an idea occurred to him, for he smirked.

"You will be fighting with only what the spirits gave you for weapons." Fancy talk for 'You get no weapon.' I shrugged, unconcerned. We got into our ready positions as everyone else backed away.

"Whenever you're ready, your highness. Can I call you Zuko? Your fancy titles just take so much time…"

Zuko yelled and charged at me with his classic fire daggers. I stood my ground for as long as I could. When he was only two steps away, I dropped to the ground and swung my leg towards Zuko. He was obviously not expecting this, and he went down easily. I was on him by the time he had realized where he was, and I had him pinned down with my knee on his stomach, my wrist pressed down on his upper arm, and my forearm putting pressure on his throat. I paused for a few seconds to let everyone see that I had clearly won, before getting up.

I cocked an eyebrow at the applause as Zuko got up, heaving for breath. As I had gotten back into my training, I didn't even break a sweat.

Iroh burst out with "That was incredible! Prince Zuko, I have never seen you fight so well, not even when you fought Zhao! And Cadence…" I cocked an eyebrow. "I have never seen anything like it!" Seeing the furious look on Zuko's face, Iroh tactfully stopped.

"Miss Cadence-" I cut him off with, "No need for the miss." He continued. "I have never seen you fight before, and that was truly something. That was the quickest fight I have ever seen! You may even be able to defeat me!" I was sure I could. "Where did you learn to fight?"

Instead of lying outright, I decided to dance around the question. "A qualified teacher. Where are we heading right now?" Last I'd heard, we were headed for the Earth Kingdom, specifically Kyoshi Island, although we'd made a few stops since then.

"We're following the Avatar on his sky bison, but we lost him in the clouds this morning. We just-"

Just then, we were interrupted by the man on lookout at that moment. "We spotted the Avatar again!" Someone ran off to inform Zuko. Iroh went over to the railing to scan the sky, and I followed. Sure enough, there he was, just a spec in the distance. Soon, Zuko came running out of the corridor leading to his quarters (among other things) and stood beside Iroh.

"Follow the Avatar! Don't lose him," he bellowed. Iroh commented that it appeared as though the Avatar was heading towards the Fire Nation. It was then that I was noticed, and carted back to my cell, with my belongings waiting for me on my cot.

_Oh, the Fire Nation. It's been a while… _

**O~O~O**

I adjusted my satchel slung over my shoulder and continued my trek around the island. I was at Crescent Island, where the Fire Temple with the Fire Sages was. In my satchel was everything I had had before I was captured by Zuko, in addition to some extra food I had filched from the kitchens. I also had three full water skins, a few bags of different currency gold, and my nearly endless arsenal of weapons both in my bag and hidden around my person. I was good to go.

I suddenly stopped walking. _Isn't that the Avatar's bison? Appa, I think._ Apparently, the Avatar and his friends had left the bison and their supplies here while they went to the temple. _Now how can I twist this situation to my advantage?_

Just then, the wind changed direction. The bison, previously lying down half asleep, stood up as he caught my scent. I approached slowly and with caution, not knowing this creature's temperament.

"Hey." I talked to "Appa" quietly, in as soothing tones as I could manage. I wasn't really the soothing type.

"Do you remember me? Maybe not, since we've never really met; we were pretty far away. I kind of rescued your buddy Aang a while back." The bison became more alert at the mention of Aang. I tried to approach a little closer, but the bison growled. Apparently he thought me untrustworthy. _Smart bison._

I had been wandering around the island for a while, sorting out my escape options, and my feet were starting to ache from all the rocks on the ground. I had traversed at least half the island, always keeping the water at my left and the temple at my right. I plopped down on a nearby thigh-high rock and shrugged my satchel off my shoulder.

The bison had just gotten used to my silent presence and started to relax when a loud crack was heard from the temple, followed closely by the sounds of explosions and panic. My bag was on my shoulder in an instant, and I was standing on the rock to get a better view. The bison lifted his head and gazed toward the temple, apparently worried for his buddy. After another loud crack, the temple started to shift precariously to one side. It would topple over soon.

The bison got up with a surprising amount of speed and started to take off. I made my decision in an instant and leapt off my boulder onto his saddle. I was unprepared, however, for the jolt as the bison surged upwards. I was thrown slightly off balance, but combined with the bison's second surge forwards, I was thrown back. My luck was regrettably unfortunate, as always, and my head hit the back of the saddle.

Darkness covered my vision.

**O~O~O**

The three sighed with relief as Appa soared into view, saving them from a destiny as temple squish. Something seemed off, though none of them could quite put their finger on it. Was that shadow in the back of Appa's saddle _supposed_ to be there?

Those thoughts had to be put aside as they all leapt out of the burning building into the saddle. Katara gasped mid-leap, and they all had an unusual amount of trouble finding their footing as they landed. That shadow was _definitely_ not supposed to be there. And it wasn't just a shadow. It was a girl. Dressed in black loose-fitting leggings and long-sleeved shirt, she looked about as out of place as Fire Lord Ozai would have on Kyoshi Island.

Aang plopped down facing the girl and stared at her in mute shock. _What_ was she _doing_ there? This was the most unexpected of all places she could possibly have been. Katara and Sokka sat down on either side of Aang and followed his lead in staring. Sokka was the first to speak.

"Is that… blood?"

The three leaned in to inspect the upper left side of the girl's forehead to which Sokka referred. There was, in fact, a trickle of blood coming from somewhere further back on the girl's scalp.

The girl was on her side, slightly sprawled, with her hood partially covering her face. The three sat in silent astonishment as the trickle of blood inched its way closer to the floor of Appa's saddle. Again, Sokka was the first to regain his wits.

"Hey, Aang? Isn't this the girl who helped you on Zuko's ship?"

Aang nodded his head in response. "Yeah… Cadence."

"Should we… do something?"

Aang seemed to snap out of his trance as Katara spoke.

"Why don't I wash the blood off her head while Aang, you go get some rags. Sokka, you prop her up against the back of the saddle and make sure she doesn't fall over."

Aang dove into the packs strapped to the very back of the saddle while Sokka hurried to do what Katara had instructed. Katara gently slid the girl's hood back off her head and, with some difficulty, bent some of the water in the water skin she had recently taken to carrying at all times. She gracefully but uncertainly brought the water to coat her left hand, and gently began to clean off the blood, avoiding for the moment the wound itself.

Soon enough, Cadence regained consciousness. She groaned and sat up, shaking off Sokka's hand on her shoulder. Aang heard and leapt over the back of the saddle, having only just found a rag. The three simply stared at Cadence with questions buzzing around their heads, but at a loss of words, unsure of where to start. Cadence was the first to break the ice.

"So… fancy meeting _you_ here."

**Till next time!**

**~Alice**


	4. From Appa

**SORRY! I've been at camp all summer, with no chance to write! But, finally, here it is. Go read it.**

Now, waking up to generally unfamiliar faces looking down at you is never a pleasant experience. This was no exception, regardless of the fact that I had met the Avatar before. I sat propped up against the back of the saddle on Appa's back, with the three of them sitting facing me.

My bag was beside me. From my brief initial scan of my surroundings when I regained consciousness, I found that it hadn't been tampered with or searched.

I greeted them, and apparently my greeting was not what they had expected, for I was met with more silence. The dark Water Tribe boy was the first to speak.

"What are you doing on Appa?" He demanded.

I decided to reply as truthfully as I could, while still omitting what information they didn't need. It would make my life easier in the future.

"Escaping."

"From what? From who?" He was leaning in intently, studying my face for signs of fear, nervousness, or lies. My face was perfectly blank.

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Don't tell me you've forgotten me _that_ quickly?" Turning to the Avatar, I continued. "I _did_ save your life."

The Avatar began to say something, but the boy cut him off with, "That's irrelevant! Who are you escaping from, how did you find us, why are you on Appa, why were you knocked out and injured, and why did you stay on Zuko's ship before?"

A girl was sitting beside him. They had the same dark skin, and both were wearing generic Southern Water Tribe clothes. Many similarities in their faces led me to believe that they were related, most likely brother and sister.

The girl spoke. "Calm down, Sokka. She just woke up!" Turning from her brother to face me, she continued. "I'm sorry, he's paranoid-"

"Cautious!"

"Sokka!"

The boy called Sokka didn't look contrite in the least, only frustrated. The girl smiled gently at me, and held out a wet rag.

"I avoided direct contact with your wound, I wasn't sure-"

"That's fine, I've got it." I interrupted. I took the rag and pressed it to the pain on my head. It stung, but I wasn't fazed.

"Um, if you don't mind… Cadence… how _did_ you get on Appa?"

"For starters, Prince Zuko's been following you ever since we met before. I was waiting for a good opportunity to get away. I found one. I took it."

The Avatar looked shocked. "Wait, you mean you've been Zuko's prisoner ever since?"

I nodded and passed the rag back to Katara.

Sokka seemed less excited when he asked, "So, how did you get away, and why were you injured?" I decided to humor him.

"He lost a bet- don't ask, long story- and I got my bag back. When we landed, I broke out of my cell and found Appa. You weren't around, so I started to wait. We heard some explosions at the temple. He got really worried and took off. I jumped into his saddle, but lost my balance and hit my head on the bottom. Anything else?"

Sokka glared at her and, turning to Katara and Aang, said, "We need to talk." The three climbed over onto Appa's head; as far away from me as they could get. They spoke in low tones with their heads together so I couldn't hear, Sokka occasionally glancing up to make sure I wasn't eavesdropping.

**O~O~O**

"I don't trust her," Sokka wasted no time in stating.

"She saved my life, Sokka. I probably wouldn't have escaped without her. I wouldn't even be here. She's been stuck with Zuko for who knows how much longer than I have." Aang replied earnestly.

"That doesn't mean she can stay with us. She's free now, so she can go wherever she wants."

"But not with us."

"Aang, she could be Zuko's spy. Other than her word, do you have any proof that she was actually _captured_ by Zuko, and held _against her will_?"

"Did you see how they were beating her up as we were leaving? That's good enough proof for me."

"It still could have been staged. What do you think, Katara? You haven't said much."

"I'm sorry, Aang, but it's just too risky. We still don't have proof she's not Fire Nation. She could be working for Zuko, Zhao, or even the Fire Lord."

Aang started to interrupt, but Katara kept talking.

"This isn't just me, or Sokka, or even you we're talking about. This is the Avatar. The world needs you Aang. We can't risk you getting captured again."

"It's two on one, Aang. As soon as we land, she's got to go."

Aang looked despairingly between the two siblings, and finally accepted that he was beat. They climbed back onto Appa's saddle.

Cadence looked up from fiddling with a dagger from her pack. Sokka sat down facing her, and Aang and Katara quickly followed suit, with Aang looking down in defeat.

"Look, we're sorry, but you just can't stay with us. It's too risky. You could be a Fire Nation spy. As soon as we land, you have to go."

The expression -_or lack thereof_- on Cadence's face didn't change. She looked from Sokka to Katara to Aang. "Is this a unanimous decision?" She continued fiddling with the dagger.

"It's a final decision." Sokka answered firmly.

"So, you said as soon as we land. We're flying over ocean, with not a patch of green in sight. Any idea exactly how far land _is_?"

"About fifteen minutes."

"Well, why wait?"

"What?" The word was spoken in unison from Sokka and Katara. Confusion was written all over the Gaang's faces.

"You want me gone, I'll go. But I won't wait a quarter hour." Without another word, Cadence stood up and slung her pack on her back in one smooth movement. She held her dagger in her teeth, and dove gracefully over the edge into the ocean below.

Aang, Sokka and Katara scrambled to the edge to watch her fall. She hit the surface of the ocean with barely a ripple. From over a hundred feet in the air, no one saw her head bob to the surface.

There was shocked silence up above. In just a few seconds, they were far enough away to be unable to see the place where Cadence had hit the water.

She was gone.

**O~O~O**

She focused on swimming down and away so they couldn't even see her silhouette. When the air in her lungs started to burn, she turned and began to kick upwards with powerful strokes. She broke the surface with a gasp, and saw that the massive sky bison was only just larger than a speck in the distance. She had been right to trust its speed and height to conceal her. She turned, and with her pack on her back and her knife in her teeth, began the long swim toward the distant shore not yet visible.

**R+R!**


End file.
